Circus
by Windona
Summary: Azula came to a circus to recruit Ty Lee. However, the circus had another performer with special abilities...
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, all! You're probably mad at me for taking forever to post anything (if you're a loyal reader), but as I mentioned in AToTL, I had crew, school, and other annoying things. Seriously, crew took about 24 hours a week for me. And sleep too. Bleh.**

**Anywho, not sure if I'll make this into a full-fledged story or just a one-shot. And since I believe the owners know that no fanfics on this site are profitable or giving away free source material, no disclaimer for fun. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

After talking to Azula, Ty Lee walked into her own tent. Then she watched Azula saunter away with a cocky smile. Ty Lee knew what it meant; bad news. Azula was the type to always get what she wanted, whether by fear or because her dad preferred her. Ty Lee would be forced to join Azula's hunt by the end of the day or suffer, maybe even die. She knew that, and accepted it. However, Azula couldn't have what she didn't know about. That was why Ty Lee had to warn him.

She cart wheeled and flipped over to his tent in order to look like she was just practicing, even though Azula was out of sight. She then opened up the flap of the tent slightly, and called out, "Nightcrawler?"

The fuzzy blue guy that Ty Lee had become fast friends with flipped down. "Yes?" He brushed some of his dark blue hair out of his golden eyes. Ty Lee distantly wondered if he was related to Zuko. You would not be able to prove or disprove it, since Nightcrawler (as his stage name) or Taji, as the circus people named him, was adopted. During her time in the circus, Ty Lee found that her preferred Nightcrawler to his real name, and that he was able to wall climb, teleport, and blended in with the shadows pretty well. His tail had also become a third limb to him, and as such Nightcrawler's abilities were used during the circus to present him as a spirit. He would climb up on a shadowed wall silently, and when the cue came and the light shone on him, he would teleport to the first in a series of acrobatic challenges which he would pass with ease.

"Nightcrawler, Azula, princess of the Fire Nation, is here."

Nightcrawler's face brightened. "Is she here to see us perform? I hope she likes our routine!"

Ty Lee looked at him, her face panicked. "No, no! She came here asking me if I would like to join her to hunt her brother Zuko and her uncle Iroh! I don't want her to know about you and your powers, or she'd force you to join her."

Nightcrawler's face showed he was listening, and taking her seriously. "Has she done this before to you?"

Ty Lee shook her head. "No, but I was friends with her before I joined the circus. She would do this sort of stuff all the time. I bet she'll make my life miserable at the circus until I join her. But maybe you can escape her grasp. Just don't let her know you can teleport; she won't see you as useful otherwise because you're not as good at chi blocking as I am yet."

"Of course I'm not as good as you are; you're the one who's been teaching me for the last three years." Nightcrawler joked. That was what Ty Lee liked about him. He could make any situation funny, but would still listen to you whenever you wanted. Ty Lee smiled and flipped away, not knowing that Azula had requested to see Nightcrawler perform at the same time as Ty Lee. After all, she had learned who lived in the tent that Ty Lee went to and Azula wanted to see what he could do.

* * *

The performance was not going well. Ty Lee started her tightrope routine when the net started burning and animals were let loose in the ring. She knew the only reason for that was Azula testing her skills. She stole a glance at Nightcrawler's golden eyes to comfort her and tell him not to teleport for her. Ty Lee made it to the end of the tightrope before letting out a deep breath. Next, Nightcrawler was going to perform.

"Will Nightcrawler please teleport to the center of the ring?"

Ty Lee mentally cursed. She already saw the evil glint in Azula's eyes at the mention of teleporting. The sulfur smoke started to dissipate. Then Nightcrawler began to swing and use his tail for complex acrobatics. He flipped, curled, and swung in many amazing acrobatic moves. Ty Lee could have sworn that Azula's grin was twice the size it was when the net was set on fire. Ty Lee then saw Azula talking to the ring master, the sweat starting to collect on his forehead from nervousness, and the obstacles Nightcrawler had were set on fire. He had to teleport, leap, and sometimes jump to walls to make it through. In the process, Nightcrawler showed everything he could do power wise. Walking over to him as Nightcrawler left the tent with slightly burned blue fur, a few embers dying out, and soot mixing with sweat to paint some of his fur and skin black like ink, Ty Lee comforted him quietly. Unfortunately, that did not matter. Not the comforting words or the fact he was burned. Not as much as another cold, chilling fact; Azula already knew about and wanted his powers.

* * *

Azula was not one to waste something that could be an obvious advantage. She began to address him by his real name, saying "Taji-"

"Please call me Nightcrawler, your highness."

Azula looked slightly annoyed the someone dared to interrupt her. However, in her own Azula way she took it in stride to get to the point and use her manipulative words to seal the deal on the already scared and sweating teen. It did not matter anyway. He would not disobey. Not when he saw Azula's power and what she would do to him if he dared defect.

"Nightcrawler, would you like to join me, your princess, as a loyal servant in my hunt for the Avatar and two traitors to our nation?"

Nightcrawler looked at Ty Lee's slightly scrunched and scared face, then looked to Azula. "Of course. It is my honor to serve our lovely princess."

As a feeling colder than solid helium descended upon her, Ty Lee couldn't help but feel that something was deeply wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

A boy whose joints flared was working in the field. He wondered what happened to his older brother all those years ago.

* * *

As they traveled to the recently-conquered Omashu, Ty Lee explained everything in her hyperactive way to Nightcrawler. He nodded as they rode along in their palanquin. By the time they arrived in Omashu, Nightcrawler could have sworn he knew everything about Azula and Zuko, including his love for turtle ducks and that Zuko loved his mother Ursa. As the palanquin was set down, Ty Lee bounded out and a gloomy girl with fingernails sharp as knives greeted them.

"Please tell me you're here to kill me." Azula and the gloomy girl then laughed.

"It's great to see you, Mai." Nightcrawler never saw Azula laugh before. It sounded almost genuine.

"Who's the blue fuzz ball?" Mai asked. Nightcrawler stepped forward.

"The Incredible Nightcrawler. Ty Lee and I worked together in the circus; we were both acrobats."

"Which reminds me; I thought you ran off to join the circus, Ty Lee. Said it was your calling."

"Yeah, but Azula called a little louder."

After Azula explained the situation, Mai couldn't help but wonder how this blue boy fit into Azula's plan. After all, she didn't choose weaklings.

* * *

In a Fire Nation colony, a platoon of fire benders were found. All of them had been crushed or skewered by metal.

* * *

Sokka took a step back as Nightcrawler bamfed next to him and grabbed the baby out of his arms, and knocked him on his feet. Sokka got out his club and swung and Nightcrawler. He bamfed away again, this time landing on Sokka before he could strike. Sokka threw his boomerang at Nightcrawler, knocking him away. It was then Appa arrived, blowing the girls and Nightcrawler away with his gigantic tail. In order to keep from falling over and possibly hurting the baby, Nightcrawler bamfed to Mai.

After Sokka and Katara left, Nightcrawler handed Tom-Tom over to Mai. She had to keep her brother from reaching for Nightcrawler's spaded tail.

* * *

On a Fire Nation Island, there was a beautiful woman. Many soldiers and some civilians never lived after she served them tea.

* * *

Zuko had split up with Iroh. However, Zuko had made a mistake; he forgot to have enough food for the journey through this town. It was only through luck that he met Lee and was fed. No, he was not starving, but the town had the bad luck to not have any food. The story of his life; all the luck seemed to be with Azula.

A few months ago, Zuko would not have cared about Lee or his family. A few months ago, Zuko was chasing the Avatar on a ship to regain his honor. He had changed since then. He began to fight for Lee.

In the audience, Sying was watching as best he could without opening his eyes. He heard the tell-tale sound of fire bending. Hearing the sound of hammers, he blinked his eyes open for a second. The guy with the mallet- Shin-fu- was hit. Zuko was surprised by this, but he took advantage of it and pounded him yet again. Shin-fu was down for the count when he asked; "Who are you?"

As Zuko gave his long-winded explanationabout who he was, the Earth Kingdom villagers made a semicircle around Sying. They had seen what he had done, and they thought he was a weird type of fire bender. They glared as the banished prince approached the little boy, and Sying knew that even though he had lived there for the past few years, he was done for. He followed the banished prince out of the town, stumbling along. He just wished he could open his eyes without anything blowing it up.

* * *

A boy who had lived with the swamp benders for years jumped into a tree and caught a fly with his abnormally long tongue. A swamp bender loudly commented, "Woo-ee, that was a big 'un."

* * *

They had been chasing the Avatar all night. Nightcrawler secretly wondered why they changed their mission from capturing her traitor brother and uncle to the Avatar. Then he remembered that the two people tasked to capturing the biggest threat to the Fire Nation had died or were being hunted themselves. After that, Nightcrawler decided not to think about why Azula was doing things and just find a way for him and Ty Lee to get out of that mess without the implied threat to his loved ones at the circus getting in the way. If he flubbed the battle, Azula would realize that and they would be punished. Escaping wasn't an option either.

"Well, it's time to get up, everyone. The Avatar and his friends should be tired, and they have foolishly stopped to fight. Now's the time to _strike_." At Azula's words, everyone got up and got on a mongoose-lizard**(1)**. The door went down, and they rode out.

Nightcrawler had never realized what 'all terrain' meant for their mount before. He then found out when they avoided earthen road blocks quickly and crawled up the gigantic stone wall. They then got on Appa and flew away, avoiding Azula's lightening.

* * *

A girl accidentally touched a boy with her bare skin. He collapsed. She had his memories in her head now.

* * *

"We could have taken them!" Toph announced.

"Are you crazy? The one with the pink can block your bending, and that's really scary" Katara retorted.

"And the fuzzy blue one can disappear and reappear anywhere" Sokka added in. Everyone else looked at him in shock.

"That's not possible" Katara said in a flat voice.

"He did. That's how he got that little boy out of my arms in Omashu. But that can't be as weird as anything you guys can do."

"Sokka, you can't bend space. It's easier to bend metal than to do that. You're probably just remembering things wrong because you're so tired; we've been up all night" Aang added.

* * *

A girl had a nightmare about falling. She woke up in the food cellar.

* * *

**(1) Info on the name courtusy of audio commentary.**

**Alright. Tell me if using mutants discovering their powers as scene breakers is annoying or good. Please. And cookies to anyone who guesses who each mutant is in the breaks. And the main reason it's so broken up at the begining? I really don't want to write canon over again, but some details are more important. It will flow more and more as we break from canon more and more.**

**Oh, and I probably will not use Nightcrawler's ATLA name that much, but Sying and others may have their names I choose used more often. If confused, I may just resort to their original names for the rest of the fic. Just say the word, alright? **

**If you don't know who Sying is yet, you will next chapter. Oh, and he's sort of like he was in that one episode of Evo.**


	3. Chapter 3

Large wings let him escape. People weren't sure if he was a spirit, new humanoid creature, or an air bender with a strange glider.

* * *

It had been a long night. Yes, they managed to have sleep. They had more sleep than the Avatar and his group. But waking up when they were nearing them was never fun. He sighed as they rode out on their lizards to the latest spot were the big furry beast had shed. He dazed out until Azula said, "Nightcrawler, you're coming with me."

Nightcrawler followed her on his lizard, confused. He thought that Azula was the type to go fight on her own and take the glory and honor of defeating the Avatar on her own. Not the type who required or asked for help. If he had known her as well as Ty Lee or Mai knew her, he would have known that Azula still desired to 'reinforce' his loyalty. They remained silent as they rode to where the path pointed.

They passed through the lush greenery into less fertile lands until the path clearly went down a main road in an abandoned town that ended with a familiar bald monk. That took them until sunset. Nightcrawler followed Azula's lead and dismounted. Azula made her own little joke to the boy, and Nightcrawler waited for her to move in so he could attack.

Suddenly, a teenager older than all of them by at least a year appeared with a huge scar around one eye. Nightcrawler took that to be the guy Azula was referencing during the half-listened to banter. The teen gave a confused look at Nightcrawler, then shrugged it off. The teen dubbed 'Zuzu' by the princess continued by telling her that he was the one to take out Avatar. Nightcrawler was completely confused as to why an Earth Kingdom refugee would want to take out the Avatar and how he would know the Princess of the Fire Nation enough to recognize her by face. Then Taji looked at the golden eyes 'Zuzu' possessed.

Any member of the Fire Nation- be they colonial or from the homeland- knew the eyes on so many posters and in school books, whether they attended or not. It was given as a mark of the Fire Lord's right to rule, and showed that the Fire Lord was better than the Earth King or any leader of either Water Tribe. After all, only a few select members in the royal family possessed those golden eyes. That color was the only eye color to be so rare besides gray. It was at that Nightcrawler knew that the teen was Azula's older brother and the exiled prince. Suddenly, it made sense.

A split second before Azula let her volley of fire loose, Nightcrawler knew that she would aim it at her brother, who would inherit the throne before her if he came into the Fire Lord's good graces. Seeing that, Nightcrawler felt it prudent to try and capture the Avatar for her.

As Nightcrawler teleported over to Aang, the Avatar stepped back before he air bended the sulfur smoke out of the way. Azula gave a quick glance in Nightcrawler's direction before fighting off her brother, smirking at her investment. Besides his appearance and powers, his acrobatic skills made him a fighter worthy of being in her special force. As an added bonus, Nightcrawler feared her even more than Ty Lee.

* * *

He was fast enough to be mistaken for a running air bender. He was also a messenger for the Earth Kingdom upper class in Ba Sing Se.

* * *

Sying sighed. He knew he was useless without being able to open his eyes, but he felt that Zuko should have let him do something other than glorified ostrich-horse watching.

That was what he felt before he heard the sound of fire bending. It sounded like fire bending, and from more than one source at that. He heard a loud crack come out multiple times. At that, Sying tied up the ostrich-horse and ran towards the sounds to help.

Deciding to focus on the sound of the one making the cracking noises instead of the whooshes of fire, Sying opened his eyes at the sound of a crack. The fuzzy blue thing was blown back, and the fight continued.

* * *

She focused harshly on the door in front of her, planning how to get out of the asylum. She was waiting she had the chance to blow the door down.

* * *

When the Avatar's travel companions entered the fray, it became a free-for-all. Azula tried to fight off the two water tribe peasants and Zuko while the Avatar fought Nightcrawler and the new boy who shot beams from his eyes in a three-way battle. Sying kept on knowing where to aim based on the source of the wind and the noise Nightcrawler made every time he teleported. The chaos only increased further as an old man and a young girl joined in at different times in the fight. Finally, Zuko ended up fighting Azula after she took a chance to shoot at him while bearing down on the water tribe siblings, and the others all joined up to bear down on Nightcrawler and Azula.

Finally being cornered, Azula glance at Nightcrawler in a 'follow me' fashion, and threw up her hands. All the other combatants stood in stances ready to bend or shoot eye beams. Azula began to announce her surrender. Nobody believed it for a second.

It did not matter. The time they took to wait was enough time for Azula to shoot at Iroh. Just as the others attacking with their bending and eye beams, Nightcrawler teleported Azula out of the way and right next to their rides.

"Well, it may be a minor setback, but that fight was interesting, don't you think?" Azula commented with a smug smile still on her face.

* * *

A red haired woman threw soldier back with her mind. They believed her to be a vengeful spirit.

* * *

Without a word, Sying helped as he could. He made tea while Zuko tended to his injured uncle. Sying was alerted to the older man waking up not by the man's own words, but by Zuko's exclamation of "Uncle!"

Passing over two cups of tea, Sying was surprised when right after waking up the man said, "Who is this young man with you?"

"I met Zuko when I was thrown out of my town. I was accused of fire bending" Sying answered.

"Are you one?"

Sying sighed. "No; I can throw things back when I look at them, but I can't stop it. I've tried to copy fire bending motions when I can, but nothing comes out."

Iroh took a long sip of his tea. "Well, I guess both of you have much to work on. Today will be all about hard work and making you understand your abilities."

It was much hard work indeed.

* * *

_Alright. Thank you for being so patient, and here's who the people from the previous chapter's page breaks were;_

_1) Havok/ Alex Masters (Summers)_

_2) Magneto/ Eric Lenshirr/Max Eisenhart/he has many names_

_3) Mystique/Raven Darkholm. She's always been into subterfuge._

_4) Toad/Todd Toadlansky (Admit it, you can picture him with the Swampbenders.)_

_5) Rogue/ Ann Marie_

_6) Shadowcat/ Kitty Pryde._

_Note: I may choose Asian names for them to fit in with the setting (AtlA is an Asian fantasy world, after all. Let I am keeping many of their Caucasian looks...) Which reminds me; if you have an Asian name idea for their real names (not their codenames), then tell me. It could be helpful._

_If you have not guessed who Sying is by now, I am a failure at this 'hinting' business. As of next chapter, I will list the characters with Asian names and American names, because I want people to remember that Nightcrawler's name is Taji here. And other names as well.  
_


	4. In Which Lancitty Lovers Rejoice

At the 'oasis', he became part of a brawl due to his wanted poster. He flicked Pai Sho tiles, which blew up in his enemies' faces.

* * *

Iroh was curious. He knew about these types of people, non-benders with extraordinary powers, but the few he met had never really let him study their powers. Here was a chance to see it, and in a raw form. Iroh wondered if it was a new expression of one's chi, or a new type of bending.

However, Iroh was also known for his patience, and managed to wait until he left Zuko alone to practice his own newly learned technique before he gave his attention in Sying. He brought the boy to a rocky, mostly barren place near a cave. Iroh told Sying to sit down and face the boulder, then told him to open his eyes.

"Are you nuts? I'll destroy whatever I'm looking at and alert anyone within the area where we are!" Sying commented.

"Sying, you know as well as I do that nobody is around and we can only learn how to control your powers if you use them."

"Any shrapnel formed could hit us."

"I am willing to take that risk."

Sying sighed, and opened his eyes. For a brief moment, he saw a red stone and a dusty rock. When he closed his eyes, he frowned. "See? All I did was turn that rock into dust."

Iroh smiled. "And did not effect the red one, even though you stared right at it."

"What?"

Iroh went over to the stone, and picked up the flawed chunk. It had bubble like structures in it and other flaws usually seen in large chunks of crystal. He heaved it up and held the stone right in front of Sying's eyes.

"Open your eyes, and see what I mean."

Sying did, and for the first time since the fire nation raid on his village, he saw another person smiling.

* * *

A gruff man grunted as he fought off a small group of fire benders and soldiers. For the last hundred years, nobody had been able to kill the man with metal claws who could heal all wounds.

* * *

Toph stepped as quietly as she could, and carefully lifted the rock with earth bending. Once in the air, she sent the rock directly at Aang. He reacted at the last second to the swoosh of air and ducked.

"Look Twinkletoes, you can't just duck when things come at you. You need to sense the earth to find out where the person is! Now stand up straight, use your feet properly and stop the rocks in your path with earth bending!" Toph yelled.

"Toph, maybe you should be more gentle. Aang-" Katara was cut off.

"Look sugar queen, if that weird guy with a tail does his thing, you won't be able to tell where he is. If Aang doesn't learn how to sense the earth like I do, he'll be imprisoned before you can blink." Toph turned her attentions back to Aang. "Now back to work!"

* * *

He was a water bender- at least, that was what everyone thought. But he never heard of a water bender who could become ice.

* * *

Iroh and Sying were enjoying their tea when Zuko came back in, soaking wet. Sying could not help but feel that Iroh was the best tea brewer he had ever met when he drank.

"You shouldn't stay outside in the rain" Iroh said.

"Uncle, I'm fine. I just had some things to think about."

"Like getting yourself killed by getting struck by lightning?" Iroh partly scolded and partly commented.

"I didn't get struck anyway." Zuko surveyed the run down hut. "What's with the red rock?"

Sying smiled. "I don't blow things up when I look through it. When we make it to a large enough town, maybe we can make glasses out of them."

"That's, uh, good." After traveling quietly with Sying and not really interacting, Zuko was struck speechless. As his cousin, Azula, and Azula's friends were the only people his age he had acted without attacking or ignoring, Zuko's social skills were severely lacking. Ignoring Sying after leaving the village and when pursuing Azula had left him flatfooted on how to interact.

"So, how did you end up in that small village?" Zuko asked to hide his discomfort.

"Fire nation raid. My parents and my brother were killed, I got damage to my head, and haven't been able to see since." Sying answered quickly. The trio fell into a sullen silence.

Iroh sighed. While Sying was more social and less focused on a single task, he still was a serious enough person to make the two teens seem like they were mirrors of each other. This impression deepened when they both drank their tea at the same time.

* * *

The fire did not just come out in blasts. He could control all fire, and make beautiful creations out of it.

* * *

The Fire Nation's military might swept through the medium sized town. A small group of soldiers burned down the small resistance the place had, as the Earth Kingdom's military viewed it as out of the way and not likely to be attacked. Anything that was not flammable was smashed or exploded. This town would be another unremarkable casualty of the war had it not been for one young girl and one young man.

The girl's father had been killed, as he had picked up a weapon to defend his family. Her mother had disappeared, and had the girl known her mother's fate she surely would have cried. This scared girl, who was even more scared by her newfound abilities, ran through buildings and people before she accidentally stopped being intangible. At that point, she bumped into a local trouble maker.

At that moment, the young man did not see someone he could con and use. He did not view her as anyone but a scared peasant girl running for her life. He grabbed her arm, and began to pull her out of there, dodging through buildings, fires and more. Ducking through alleys and running through the streets, the young man made a mistake. The alleyway he led them through would be clear normally, but through the chaos and the attack several carts had been abandoned in that area. It would have been a minimal one if not for the Fire Nation soldier who saw them duck in that alleyway and decided to give chase, viewing the two as weak.

Now readers, as one can tell by this Fire Nation soldier breaking rank and not focusing on any pitiful resistance, this Fire Nation soldier was not an ideal or perfect man. His intentions were also less than pure, and decided that fighting off a weak piece of riff raft was worth the potential prize he would take from a less than willing girl. The young man guessed this, and stood protectively in front of this girl. Wishing he could be a better earth bender, the young man closed his eyes and concentrated

The earth rattled and rolled. The carts fell apart under their own weight and the structural damage caused by the battle. The buildings on either side buckled, and some rooms collapsed in on themselves. The soldier fell to the ground. The young man then stopped and opened his eyes. He struck the ground with a bare foot and inexpertly threw a chunk of ground through his powers. That action threw the soldier to the ground, and gave the duo time to escape.

By this time, the young girl had regained her wits. She bit her bottom lip, and said "follow me". She grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him through the cart.

"What was that?" he asked. She looked at him and rolled her eyes, and they ran through the streets to escape the town.

After they ran so far their legs burned with lactic acid and their mouths were dry, they looked at each other. The girl began crying.

"My mom- my dad- gone. What are we going to do?" she asked.

The young man looked up, and then looked at the young girl. "If this out-of-the-way town was attacked, then there's only one place left that safe. Do you want to travel with me to Ba Sing Se?"

The young girl nodded. "Sure. But, uh, it seems strange to travel with you and not know your name."

"I'm Beng. You are?"

The young woman gave a watery smile. "I'm Mao." She looked over the horizon, and saw the smoke. She frowned. "We should get moving."

* * *

**Thank you White Butterfly for Kitty's name. And for those wondering where I got Beng, I looked up the word for 'avalanche' in Chinese, and split it in half. Yes, I pretty much translated his puny name.**

**Those who were mentioned at the last chapter's break:**

**1)Angel/Warren Worthington the third**

**2)Quicksilver/Pietro**

**3)Scarlet Witch/Wanda**

**4)Jean Grey (In some continuities, Pheonix or Marvel Girl)**

**I've been toying with the idea of having other Marvel characters appear, like Spider-man or the Fantasic Four. However, I decided that if used they will probably just be a cameo or quick joke, so don't expect them to be plot-important.**

**Character Identities:**

**Taji-Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner**

**Sying- Cyclops/Scott Summers**

**Beng-Avalanche/Lance Alvers**

**Mao- Shadowcat/Kitty Pride  
**


	5. And Things Surprisingly Don't Go Boom

She was hit by a fire blast. She turned into fire.

* * *

Remi spotted a group of children. Looking at the blind girl, Remi smirked at the easy target. He stood up from his Pai Sho table, and strolled casually. He bumped into her, and apologized with enough charm that would make most girls faint. He was about to walk away when he found himself buried up to his head.

"So, flighty fingers, did you think I was a good target?" the little girl ask with a smirk and hands on her hips.

"Well, my dear, you _did_ just prove how bad of a target you are for anyone, not just Remi," said the man with the maximum amount of charm he could ooze out.

The girl smirked as her friends surrounded him. "Well, you're not too bad yourself. If only you had not picked the world's greatest earth bender as your victim," Toph said dramatically. "Pay up."

Remy grumbled as his chest and arms became free. Reaching into his pocket, he gave Toph back what he stole. She motioned for him to give her more, and he grumbled as he put a few coins into her outstretched hand before she fully released him.

"That's more like it." The girl turned to face her friends as the other girl in the group talked to her, and Remy sighed. He walked towards a Pai Sho table, and looked at the old man sitting there.

"Would you like to play a game?" Remy asked. Looking the old man in the eye, they played the ritualistic game for a messenger of the order addressing a higher ranked one.

After the clacking of Pai Sho tiles stopped and the pattern formed, the old man looked Remi in the eye and said, "It would be best if you delivered the order form to my shop."

Remi nodded and followed him, avoiding the watchful eyes of those around him. Perfumes of unnamed desert flowers assaulted him as he entered the flower shop that hosted a White Lotus pit stop. Following the man to a secluded area, he noted all of the plants and where they were. It surprised Remi that people bought plants in this dried up hole.

He gave the man the papers, and sighed as the man looked them over. The man looked at Remi and asked, "How long will you be here for?"

Remi responded, "For two days; Remi will be leaving on the next cart to Ba Sing Se. Remi assumes it will be a transport for plants as well?"

The man nodded. Then, the man asked, "Why did you pick pocket in that bar?"

Remi smiled. "How do you think Remi gets important information from places no agents can reach? Remi is an accomplished thief; although that blind girl was amazing. Remi has no idea how she managed to tell that Remi was stealing from her."

The old man rolled his eyes, and sighed. "While you are here, you can work for me. This old body is not as strong as it used to be."

Remi agreed to help, and waited around. It was going to be a long two days.

* * *

People brought food to the woman who made their crops so bountiful. The area had not suffered a drought in years.

* * *

An old man, a scarred teenager and an apparently blind teenager arrived and were led into the back of the flower shop. Remi followed them, and waited with the two teenagers as the White Lotus members had their meeting.

Looking idly at the two, he asked, "What's your story?"

The one with brown hair spoke up first. "What's yours?"

Remi rolled his eyes. So they were going to play that game. Putting on his second most charming smile (most charming was reserved for females only), Remi told them a fantastic lie about the Earth King, a harem, turtle ducks and red bean buns. The teenagers only stared, one managing it without opening his eyes.

"Well, now that I told you that story, why don't you tell me yours?" Remi asked.

The scarred teen rolled his eyes. The teen with his eyes closed sighed, and began to talk.

"When I was little, my town was raided by the Fire Nation. Parents died to get me and my brother out of there, brother disappeared, hit on back of head and now I can't open my eyes without blowing stuff up. My name is Sying, by the way."

Remi mulled over it. The clipped tone indicated that he was used to telling this tale, at least recently, and the way his face scrunched at the touched upon memories showed the truth of his story. Remi nodded.

"Are you like Remi, then? Able to make things explode?"

The scarred one looked up at Remi, and Sying managed to do his best to stare in shock without opening his eyes.

Sying began to rush his speech. "What do you mean? There are others like me? What exactly can you do? How-"

"Hold your ostrich horses, Remi can only answer so many questions at once. Remi just touches things, focuses on making them blow up, they get all weird, and in a short amount of time they go boom. It is enough time to throw a pai sho tile at someone's face. And Remi's met a few non benders who can do some interesting things."

This time, the scarred one asked the question with sharp interest. "How does it work? I mean, I thought that one could use their chi to bend an element. How can you do something completely unrelated to an element by accident?"

Remi frowned, and stroked his chin. "We are nothing like benders, and we are called 'mutants' by most people in the know. But many don't know, because they would react badly, no? Remi did once run into a professor in Ba Sing Se who knows much about our kind, and explained it to me once, but Remi forgets exactly what he said. All Remi knows is that Remi, like other mutants, are born differently than others. By the way, Remi did not catch your name. What is it, hnn?"

"…Lee. I was burned by a fire bender and have not been able to return home since." Remi frowned; the way his eyes looked up and to the left showed that he was telling the truth, but there was much more to the story than he was telling. Remi nodded; after all, everyone had secrets they wanted to keep, no? And Remi never said how he came to be a member of the White Lotus. A messenger, but a member none the less.

Although Remi apparently was not a high ranked enough member to be in that meeting. Or maybe Remi was there to keep those two from nosing around or listening in. Whatever.

Sying was the one who spoke next, with an oddly serious tone that seemed distantly familiar. "What is your story? The truth, this time."

Remi mentally cursed; Remi hoped they would have been amused and forget about it. Ah well; Remi could do what Lee did.

"Remi was a thief and part of a thieving family, and Remi ran from them a few years ago and ran into the White Lotus. It is good to have allies who will not manipulate or use you." Remi then looked over at the two boys, and tilted his head. "It is also good to have friends, no?"

Sying smiled. "Meeting others like yourself helps."

The door then opened, and the old man and the flower man stepped out. Then flower man spoke.

"Remi, you will be taking a cart today to Ba Sing Se. You will be sitting up front with Sying, and Lee and Mushi will hide in large flower pots to hide from bounty hunters." Flower man then looked towards Sying. "As for you, there is a professor who is currently in Ba Sing Se who works with non-benders who have abilities like yours. You may also be able to find a stone cutter who can make you lenses for your eyes. You leave now."

Despite his uncharacteristically dopey smile, Sying managed to get all the plants on and help set the cart up for travel. Due to the lack of posters with his face blazoned on them and nobody paying attention to who those on the wanted poster were traveling with, nobody stopped them or started a fight. Remi smiled the way only a conman and thief could.

* * *

**If you thought I gave up on this story, be pleasantly surprised! I'm just ridiculously slow~**

**Thanks again to Vampiric Dragonrider for being a good beta!**

**Previous breaks were: Gambit (Remy LeBeau), Wolverine (Logan, he of many names), Ice Man (Bobby Drake), Pyro (John Allyerdyce). **

**Only name changes you need to know for this chapter are:**

**Sying- Scott Summers aka Cyclops**

**Remi- Remy LeBeau aka Gambit (Yes I was lazy and just changed the 'y' to an 'i'. If there are other names I can get away with something like that or names that are already Asain, I will.)  
**


End file.
